Goodbye to you...2010

Well, less than fifteen hours left of 2010! I can't say I'm sad to see it end! I'm looking forward to ringing in 2011 with our friends and family. It's going to be a great new year, full of new challenges--Becca will be graduating high school and heading off to L A to make her mark. Adam is going to start taking classing in the summer to enhance his law enforcement career. Manda is still in college (she passed with flying colors last semester) and Jeremy, hopefully, will be playing baseball on the high school team. I'm planning to do more writing...just gonna throw up words on the page and hope it turns into a work of art. haha
I hope your new year is spectacular! May you close the door on 2010 and all the regrets and what if's you had and step into 2011 refreshed and full of hope and make your dreams come true!!
And, if you're even a little bit superstitious when the clock strikes midnight and you look at your calendar the date will be 1/1/11...make a wish!


Warm Hugs!!,

Happy Christmas--the year is over--ALREADY???

Wow, only three days until Christmas and less than two weeks until the new year! I can't believe how fast 2010 went, it's practically a blur! Not that I'm complaining, 2010 turned out to be a sucky year! My daughter, Becca, said it's because on New Year's Day we didn't do our traditional "Good Luck" meal of ham, cornbread, black-eyed-peas and cabbage. I've done this meal all my life and except for a few times between '81-'85 (which explains a lot!) I've never strayed from the tradition/superstition. But last year, with my oldest (Adam) living in Houston (and apparently that bummed me out more than I let on) and my kids complaining how much they hated ham/cabbage/black-eye-peas/cornbread, I decided to skip it. And, what happens?? A crappy year!! Becca had A LOT of teenage drama which included a cyber-bully and backstabbing by her "friends". Most girls would have been broken by the betrayal, luckily she's a strong soul. Jeremy didn't make the cut for the high school baseball team (his fault for failing English), but he had a good spring playing ball and even made All-Stars. Amanda--okay she didn't have too bad a year. She graduated high school and started college (although she's going for kindergarten teacher instead of pastry chef because her limitations made it too hard to do the job). Adam--as I said he moved back to Houston before the end of the year. He started out with a good job in construction but then got screwed over big-time! They took him off the construction job and asked him to do security--working him 12 hrs a day 7 days a weeks, but only paying him ten hours of overtime and banking the rest (for rainy days I guess.) Then they told him the site he was watching was closing up for a week and they'd call him when they got back, but never did, so he spent March thru September unemployed and unable to find a job all the while getting behind on his car note and rent....which we had to pay for him so he wouldn't lose his car...which really put a strain on our finances. (I'm still very pissed at the owner of this company who doesn't even pay attention to what his foreman is doing!!) Anyway, in September, we told Adam to just come home, which he did. Within a month he'd found a job with a security company and is doing very well.
So...I say good riddance to 2010!! And, come on over 2011!! You are going to be OUR year!!
Because, not only will I be making my traditional New Year's Dinner, but midnight, when we ring in the new year, we will close our eyes and make a wish....because the date will be 1/1/11....11-11 in other words. For me and the kids, whenever you see 11-11 you close your eyes and make a wish. They don't always come true but a majority of them do (like Jeremy wishing to pass all his finals--and he did!) so we aren't gonna mess with a good thing. =)
Of course you have to make your own luck too, so, for 2011, I'm going to fight callouses and braincells to get more novels written and sold! I'm also going to really fight to lose weight before I hit RWA's National Conference in NY over the summer...which I'm really looking forward to. A full week in NY with Becca and hopefully my niece Sierra.
So....what are your wishes for the new year? Do you make wishes or set goals? (for me, goal is a four-letter word!)
Thanks for reading. Have a Wonderful Christmas and an Awesome New Year!!

Senseless Rambling

October 10, 2010. Five months and five days since my last post. That should mean something, right? (other than my laziness when it comes to blogging--heh).
I've never been into numerology or even understood it for that matter, but some people seem to think days like these are special. Okay, granted, you'll only see these dates once in your lifetime, but that doesn't make them unusal. Just...cool. Like 11:11. For some reason those numbers are supposed to be magical, at least my kids think so and whenever they see them they close their eyes and make a wish. Okay, I do too...I also wish on the first star at night...sue me. ;-P

Anyway...my friend Brenda Birch said I needed to update my blog, so that's what I'm going to attempt to do. If you're familiar with me or my blogs, you'll know I'm not very talkative so my blogs tend to be rather random.

The last five months have been pretty uneventful, so it won't take long to play catch-up. My daughter, Manda, graduated high school and as promised we went to Texas for a party with the family. We rented a beach house in Port Bolivar and had a wonderful time! We also got to spend some time with family and friends and even got to spend some long-past-due time with my niece, Sierra. She even came back home with us and spent another week. Manda is now in college, taking her general studies. She's planning to be a kindergarten teacher, although she'll probably only be an aide since it's not likely she'll be able to handle a full class on her own.
The first week of August my other daughter, Becca, celebrated her 17th birthday. A few days later she got her driver's license. The officer who gave her the driving test was greatly impressed and told her she was the best driver he'd had all day. (yeah, I take credit for being her teacher. heh). School started right after her birthday and now we're doing all the 'senior/pre-graduation' stuff for her.
My oldest, Adam, moved back home--he'd been living (or trying to) in Texas for the past year. He recently found a good job, so hopefully he can get on his feet and start supporting himself!
Jeremy, the baby, is a sophmore, so two more years before we have to do the 'senor' stuff for him. Over the summer he was on the Little League 'All-Star' team. They did fairly well, although if they'd had a better coach, they'd have gone all the way! Now that Jeremy's too old for LL he has to wait until spring to play ball again..provided he makes the school team.
As for me...not much has changed. Still, kinda, sorta, writing. In April I sent my novel, Forget Me Not to a friend, Lauren Baratz-Logsted, who does book-doctoring and copy-edits on the side. She'd worked on my other book Dark Obsession (which is still with two houses...just waiting for them to say YES I WANT THIS BOOK!! HERE'S A BUTTLOAD OF MONEY!!) haha....okay, I can dream, can't I??? Anyway, the year before and I was very happy with the results, so I sent Lauren my next book. She had about two pages of comments about what didn't work for the story so I've been rewriting and deleting a lot of scenes. I even started working with a new critique group who have been very helpful with the inconsistencies as I rewrite.

Okay..so this was boring. Like I said, not much of a blogger.
If you stayed through this whole thing...wow...you're either very sweet or very bored. haha As a token of my appreciation I will send you (via PDF) a copy of my book, Her Will His Way. Just email me at TerriMo2@yahoo.com with your email.

=)

Who do you think you are...Mr. Big Stuff?

My son and I were watching the news earlier and he stated that he was going to sign a petition opposing the new Arizona Immigration Law that went into effect in April. My son is 14 and not the brightess bulb in the box (unless it has to do with math or sports). His position on the law is because Steve Nash from the Phoenix Suns is against the bill. Really? Stick to what you get paid for Steve, although you won't get paid for much longer if you continue to rally against your home state.

Okay...if you know me or read my blogs you know I don't follow politics much...I'm certainly not passionate about it but I have to say, all the hooplah about the immigration bill just really irritates the shit out of me. I mean, seriously...boycott a state because you think the law is unconsitutional?? Who's it unconstitutional to?? Illegal immigrants? They're not legal...they have no US constitutional rights!

What I don't understand is why everyone is making such a big deal about the bill. Govenor Brewer is just enforcing the Federal immigration bill. The new Az law says :

police officers, “when practicable,” can detain people they reasonably suspect are in the country without authorization and to verify their status with federal officials, unless doing so would hinder an investigation or emergency medical treatment.

Now, for some assinine reason, some people seem to think this gives the police the right to "racial profile''. No...it doesn't! Racial profiling happens all the
time--whether intentional or not and sadly, that's just the way life is.
Sure, we've learned to be more tolerant of each other's political, social,
economic and religious views, but that doesn't mean we don't look at certain people and think...are they a terrorist? or are they going to stand on my doorstep and shove pamplets at me and make me listen to how the world is going to end and I'm going to Hell if I don't go to their church? Or if a young woman is standing on a street corner are you going to automatically assume she's "looking for company'? I know, that's not racial...but it's still profiling.

I'm second generation Mexican/American...I was born in the US...my grandparents were lucky enough to escape across the border and build a life for their children and I'm very proud of my heritage...but I do not oppose this new law. I'm sorry, but I see nothing wrong with wanting to keep our borders safe and protect not only those family that live on this end of the border but those families trying to cross over because they believe the coyotes when they tell them they can have a better life. I'm not saying I don't want them here or don't want them to have a better way of life....everyone is entitled to that....all I'm saying is go through the proper channels. Come on over but do it legally. The Mexican president is opposed to the law as well...but dude...treat your people better and maybe they won't keep trying to escape!

As I said, this whole debacle is completely ridiculous. To all those companies and people pulling their business and money out of Arizona: That isn't going to help your cause. Emotional or financial blackmail only makes you a bully and you're hurting the millions of families already struggling to make ends meet. Someone at a forum I ran across said, maybe we should ship all the illegals to one of these states who think we're doing something wrong and let them foot the bill for their care....those states would do a fast turnaround of support.

On the midday news Rev. Al Sharpton stated he planned to march in Phoenix against the bill when it goes into effect. As if that wasn't stupid enough he also stated: "And I'm not going to carry any identification papers!" Uh....are you that fucking stupid Sharpton (that's rhetorical)...you're a US citizen...unless you plan to drive your own vehicle or board an airplane...you don't need your ID. And to those who are worried about the bill or being profiled....if you're here illegally...keep your nose clean, follow the law and don't cause trouble that would have you detained by the police. If you are legal...the same thing applies!!

Anyway....my rant is done for the moment. Until someone else says or does something stupid, that is....which seems to be every day.

Kudos to Danny Glover!!! (I've always liked him as an actor...now I like him even more!)

So...tell me....what are your thoughts?

The Rich Declare Themselves Poor and most of us are not sure

I'm not a politcal person, I don't 'serve' a party and for the most part I pay no attention to the political world around me. And it's not because I don't care, it's because, I'll admit, I'm not smart enough to understand what they're all fighting about. Call me simple...no don't call me that.

Anyway, despite my lack of understanding at why we have two opposing parties who think they're what's best for our country, I do follow the news programs and count on their intelligence to help me understand in layman's terms what all the hooplah is about. And over the years I've figured out that whenever the Republican party is all about the money...their money. The minute they feel their pocketbooks are threatened they scream our country is falling apart.

Take the new health care bill for example. According to the opposition this bill is "forcing" Americans to get health insurance. WHAT??? Where in this bill does it say "Any American Citizen who does not have insurance will automatically be given insurance whether you want it or not." People....it's a choice--free will---take it or leave it!!!

Can someone please tell me why these f**king idiots are even in office??

Now, seriously, why is there even a debate about this? Who wouldn't want insurance??

As the mother of four, one child with special needs and another who takes a monthly medication, not to mention that my husband and I are getting older and with age come health problems...I'm grateful we have insurance! And to be able to keep my children on our insurance until age 26 not only eases one worry for my daughter--who will be under a doctor's care for the rest of her life (because she developed type one diabetes) it shows that, yes our country is finally looking out for the little people.

My guess is the people fighting the bill are doing so because they feel the money to cover it is going to to come out of their pockets....as always the rich want to continue to get richer while the poor should stay in their place and get poorer.

This link was posted by a friend at Facebook. Check it out and tell me....what is so wrong with this bill??? Really....because I just don't know why it's causing such an uproar.

Untitled cuz I can't think of one

Okay, so I failed my New Year's Resolution. Did you really expect me not to??

To be honest, it wasn't a realistic goal to begin with. I mean, I'm not really a blogger because (1) I'm more private than a blog allows (2) I don't quite see the point. I mean, really, does anyone actuallly care what I had for breakfast (coffee) or that I had a dentist appointment yesterday (no cavities!)?

Sure there are some really good blogs out there and some that are very informative, but, sadly, this isn't one of them. Of course I could probably make it entertaining, but that can take too much thought of which I haven't had enough coffee for and then it will come across as forced. Not that I'm not amusing at times.

A n y w a y.

Another reason for my lack of posting (aside from the dreaded What's my title going to be??) I've been busy putting together interviews for the Desert Rose Blog. Desert Rose is the RWA chapter I belong to in Phoenix. This year we're holding our bennial conference and as a way to "break the ice" we're spotlighting our speakers. It's been a lot of fun so if you get a chance, swing by and comment or just read, whatever. I'm only posting three a week so it gives me time to work on my own writing....which I'm not really doing a lot of anyway.

So, how have you been doing with your resolutions? Have you kept them?

Belated Happy New year

Okay, so I missed a day posting. I couldn't think of a song title for the heading. hah

Right now I'm having my second cup of coffee and catching up on posts for an online writing class I'm taking. Alexandra Sokolov is running it so how could I miss out on that??

I'm really taken aback at how many multipublished authors are in this class, but for any writer, new or established, who is serious about their chosen field, writing courses are a must. You can never stop learning or perfecting your craft. But the classes aren't just for learning the differencce between active and passive voice or showing not telling, they're about getting motivated and inspired to move on to the next book and the book after that. I've been having a bit of a slump in that area, but I'll admit some of it is due to laziness on my part. The other is trying to write when one kid has the TV full blast, the stereo (whining out the Jonas Brothers) and You-Tube on the computer listening to Jim Gaffigan (over and over!). Talk about not being able to concentrate! Thankfully school starts back up Monday!

So, until then, this last weekend will be spent taking apart Christmas and moving into 2010.

What are your weekend plans?